If you have ever met Luck, or heard his sound bites from games, you will quickly learn he is polite and humble to a fault. That his form of trash talking is to kill 'em with kindness.

This is the guy on the playground basketball court who congratulates the guy after he dunks in his face.

In that article, player after player have stories about Luck's legendary kindness and decency to his opponents. He will congratulate defenders after they sack him. And it's sincere. He is just a nice guy.

"I don't know if it's trash talking," Luck said when I asked him if it's sincere on a conference call. "I generally keep my mouth shut. I think every since I played any type of organized sports I've always gone into games with a respect for the other guys and other players. I guess that is a part of my personality."

It really helps Luck is 6-foot-4, 240 pounds. The man can take, and deliver, a hit in a way few quarterbacks can. It also helps his dad is former NFL QB Oliver Luck, who showed his son there is a certain way to play.

I asked Colts coach Chuck Pagano if his QB is actually a trash talker, and what followed was a few seconds of laughter.

"I don't think so - you guys have read the same stuff that I've read," Pagano said. "No. He doesn't talk any trash. I guess he has his little spin on things and he plays the game and communicates with opponents and teammates. It's kinda unique. I guess it's Andrew being Andrew."

12/07/2014

WACO, Texas - Blame is 75 percent of the fun of sports, and in places such as Waco and Fort Worth no one is receiving more faux love than Bob Bowlsby. The Big 12 commissioner is the reason neither TCU nor Baylor is in the college football playoff.

It's not on Bowlsby. It's on TCU. It's on Baylor.

As expected/feared, the top two teams in the Big 12 did not receive an invite to the first ever "Final Four". Instead, both teams will carry the distinction of "The First Two Out", which are not likely to be printed into T-shirts and hats.

In the very end, for some reason, the College Football Playoff selection committee finally moved Baylor ahead of TCU. It only took seven weeks.

No. 5 BaylorNo. 6 TCU

And - who cares? Baylor is not celebrating this "achievement". Why did the committee wait until its final poll to factor in the Bears' 61-58 win against TCU back on Oct. 11? Because the committee does whatever it wants, and no PR firm or amount or lobbying from the Big 12 boss was ever going to change anything.

Immediately after Baylor's win against Kansas State on Saturday night in Waco, Baylor coach Art Briles took Bowlsby to task for not presenting his team as the team to present to the committee. Briles was fighting for his team, and while his tact was not ideal, he did what he had to do.

What Briles, and TCU head coach Gary Patterson, and both fan bases need to accept is that it didn't matter. The committee was always going to do whatever it wanted, and the moment it could justify a bigger, power school over TCU or Baylor they were going to do it.

The committee did not care about co-champions. The committee wanted to hear anybody but TCU or Baylor.

Yes - had the Big 12's two best teams been Texas or Oklahoma the conversation would have changed.

TCU and Baylor have done so much, and still have an enormous perception problem. You hear those names, and it's just different than hearing "Oregon", "Ohio State", "Texas", "Florida State".

Despite Briles' lobbying and the considerable success these two teams have had in the past five years, they are not considered equal to Oregon, Alabama, or Ohio State. It may be shortsighted, and stupid, yet it is not plausible to examine this Final Four bracket and think otherwise.

The irony is TCU was thrilled to leave the Mountain West Conference for the Big 12 because it no longer had to be perfect to qualify for a big bowl. Now the Horned Frogs know perfection is the only way to go.Baylor needs to be perfect, too.

It's not fair. It's not right. And it's not Bowlsby's fault.

Now Baylor and TCU know what they need to do: Not lose. Now Bowlsby knows what his conference needs to do: Have Texas or Oklahoma as the teams to "present".

WACO, Texas - Art Briles should not be faulted for lobbying for his team. The fault is that he waited so long to do it.

The head coach of the Baylor men's football team waited until the final week of the season before he took to the "whistle stop" tour to openly complain, whine and moan about the college football playoff committee, and the randomness of its criteria to rank teams.

He should have been doing this weeks and weeks ago.

This week, Briles went to the national airwaves to make his case that Baylor should be ranked ahead of TCU because of the Bears' 61-58 win earlier this season. And immediately after Baylor defeated Kansas State 38-27 on Saturday night in Waco, Briles made a point of essentially showing up the commissioner of the Big 12, Bob Bowlsby.

For a league that built itself around "One True Champion", Briles is irate that the Big 12 boss is now hiding behind the college football playoff committee to decide which one is which, Baylor or TCU.

"I'm not obligated to him," Briles said in the press conference after the game. "I'm obligated to Baylor University and my football team. They need to be obligated to us because we're helping the Big 12's image in the nation."

And Bowlsby is not obligated to Briles. He has to deal with those committee members, and he is not about to set up a precedent that could damage his league in the future.

For the record: Baylor should be this league's "one true champion". The records are the same, and Baylor beat TCU head to head. For the record: TCU is the better football team.

"I certainly (think it damages Baylor). There is no question about it," Briles said. "It makes it easy on the committee people in there [to pick a team from another league)."

In Briles' eyes, the Big 12's reluctance to say Baylor is the champ and present them to the committee as its best team not only hurts his team, but this league. Not sure I buy that, but he has to make this case. This is his team, his school, and he must fight for both.

On Saturday night, Briles fiercely fought for his team like he was a lawyer. He even offered some case to defend BU's non-conference schedule about the challenges of playing Buffalo (not the Bills) on the road. He made the case that if you took the names of the teams off a board, his team's resume would compare to any.

The committee is going to do whatever it wants, regardless of what a one true champion says. SEC boss Mike Slive made sure of that when he successfully lobbied that a playoff team did not have to win its conference title.

Do not blame Briles for complaining, or making his case. He has to. TCU head coach Gary Patterson has been doing it for weeks, only he was a tad more subtle. They all do it.

The only complaint is that Briles should have been complaining weeks ago.

11/18/2014

We should all resign ourselves that this won't happen, but if the power brokers at Texas A&M and Texas care about anything other than their own egos, they would not stand in the way of genuine progress.

Administrators at A&M and Texas - this is not about you. This is all about the alums and the people who care so deeply about these schools. Put your egos aside and let this game happen if it can.

Something called the Advocare Texas Bowl could potentially make Texas vs. Texas A&M happen. The game is 8 p.m. on December 29, so let us all hope.

These teams have not played each other in football since Texas A&M left the Big 12 - thanks Longhorn Network - for the SEC.

If you don't recall, Texas defeated Texas A&M on Nov. 24, 2011 27-25 in College Station in the final game of a series that had endured since the Civil War.

Since then, administrators from both schools have thrown out rhetoric that they want this series to continue, and then promptly do nothing to make it happen. The only one who has verbally been reluctant to make any sort of rhetorical pledge to restore this rivarly has been Texas A&M director of athletics Eric Hyman. As a member of the SEC, Hyman does not want to create a schedule with any more potential losses than the conference already presents.

Now Texas (6-5) and Texas A&M (7-4) are both potentially in a position to play each other in a bowl game that has automatic tie-ins to the SEC and Big 12. This matchup and this game can happen, provided UT and A&M sign off on it.

The Longhorns, in Charlie Strong's first year, are going to be bowl eligible even if they lose to TCU on Thanksgiving Day. BTW - Do not be surprised if UT wins that game. This team is improving, and has won four of their last five games.

Texas A&M has been disappointing since a 5-0 start. The Aggies have dropped four of their last six games, but are bowl eligible ... of course, in this day and age of college football, there are nine-loss teams that are bowl eligble. A&M plays No. 17 LSU in its season finale.

Both teams are going to have its respective pride and ego crushed with the reality that they are not going to be in a prime bowl date, but there is no way these coaches are going to say no to an additional game. They want the extra practices.

A Texas vs. Texas A&M game would be a dream for the Texas Bowl, which would sell out immediately.A Texas vs. Texas A&M game would make an otherwise mostly irrelevant game relevant in a way few bowls ever do.A Texas vs. Texas A&M game would make actually be the thawing of a cold war that exists only because a bunch of administrators only agree to blame the other.

The Longhorn Network happened, and the move to the SEC happened. It should not prevent these two long-time rivals that mean so much to so many in the great state a Texas from playing each other again. One team will lose, get over it, but more importantly they will play.

If it can happen, both schools owe it to their students and their alums to allow it.

11/12/2014

FORT WORTH, Texas - Somewhere amid the middle aged men/women is a college kid absolutely loving the attention. Enjoy it now Trevone Boykin ... these things don't happen to everybody, but in this situation it is fun to watch a guy so deserving have his chance at college football's brighest light.

Boykin may not win the Heisman Trophy - most "experts" have Oregon's Marcus Mariota and Mississippi State's Dak Prescott as the leaders - but the junior from Mesquite has already won. The face of the 2014 TCU team is Trevone Boykin, who now has his own unofficial T-shirt line. The fact that he doesn't see a cut of this is a different matter.

This is not the first time in the modern era TCU has had a Heisman contender, but it is nothing like the last time the school had a player who could win the award. (For this article, I am deliberately leaving out 2010 quarterback Andy Dalton, who was never seriously considered as a legit candidate).

In 2000, TCU spent about $100,000 to promote senior running back LaDainian Tomlinson in his pursuit of the Heisman. There were billboards, notebooks, and a slogan of "LT For Heisman".

In 2014, TCU is not spending any money to promote Trevone Boykin.

Then head coach Dennis Franchione's thinking, as well as the school's, was that if LT made it to New York as a finalist it was a win. LT made it to New York, and finished fourth. The winner was Florida State QB Chris Weinke ... I can't believe I typed that.

LT did interviews all over the map, as did head coach Dennis Franchione. If there was a microphone, one or both was talking to it.

In 2000, the school was in the Western Athletic Conference, and using every available tool to promote the university, the team, and there was no more visible spokesperson than LT. At the time TCU needed every piece of available positive exposure.

Looking back, it all worked as the team and school continued to grow.

In 2014, TCU is established and while the head coach is still very much a salesman, he is trying doggedly to control how much time Trevone Boykin fields questions about his own greatness. GP should feel good that Boykin has been properly neutered coached to say little.

"I'm aware of it. I see the shirts. I see things around and people talk to me all the time about it," Boykin said after TCU's 41-20 win against Kansas State on Saturday in Fort Worth. "It's an inividual award and I'm blessed and honroed to be mentioned with those guys. The only thing I want is for the best for the team."

Is it a distraction?

LaDainian Tomlinson finished 4th in the 2000 Heisman voting

"It's not a distraction at all. We joke about it," he said. "Who would have thought? Nobody was thinking last year I'd be up for the Heisman."

He is right. Nobody ever thought Trevone Boykin would be a Heisman candidate. But his head coach does not agree these things are not a distraction.

Most of this promotion comes down to the coaches, and the time. Fran' and GP are different animals, and TCU is in a much different place than 14 years ago. Today, TCU is in the club. Back then, everybody at TCU was banging on the door to be recognized.

It's 2014, and head coaches are paranoid of their own shadows fearing the shadow may be taking notes, stealing plays or signals that ultimately get them fired. Accordingly, coaches at big time programs treat their teams like the CIA, and information is released on a need to know basis.

TCU is not spending a dime on any Trevone Boykin For Heisman promotion, mostly because it is doubtful the head coach would sign off on it, and the teams in the Power Five already receive enough publicity.

Ultimately, Trevone Boykin may finish a few votes shy of actually winning the award but the fact that TCU didn't have to spend any money for him to be a part of the debate is another indicator of just how far this program has come.

11/09/2014

FORT WORTH, Texas - Watching TCU toy with No. 7 Kansas State should leave no doubt as to the national legitmacy of the Horned Frogs. Watching Baylor embarrass Oklahoma in Norman a few hours earlier on Saturday only does the same for the Bears.

As to which team is better - TCU or Baylor - head to head should always be the No. 1 factor. Baylor beat TCU earlier this season, and that should be it.

The fact that TCU remains ranked higher than Baylor despite the Frogs' three-point loss in Waco on Oct. 11 is a total indictment on the short-sighted scheduling by coach Art Briles and athletic director Ian McCaw.

(Yes - I have been beating this dead Bear for months and will continue to do so until this issue is no longer relevant.)

The Baptists are gambling it all that the college football playoff selection committee will ultimately regard the head-to-head with TCU as the decisive element in this debate. What is working against Baylor is that the game was in early October, it was close, and a non-conference schedule that impressed no one.

The only reason Baylor is not ranked higher than TCU right now in any poll is can summed up with a non-conference schedule consisting of SMU (0-8), FBS Northwestern State (5-5) and Buffalo (3-6).

It's not as if TCU's non-conference slate is a death row, but TCU head coach Gary Patterson has mastered the illusion of the fake hard game. He has learned to find the right team from the power conference to create the appearance of slaying a monster. In the past, he found a Virginia, a Clemson, or an Oregon State to do the trick.

In this case, the Frogs' slaying of a Gopher has done the trick and created a debate: Is TCU or Baylor more worthy of a final four spot. Know this - no conference outside of the SEC is going to land two teams in the final four.

TCU's 30-7 win against Minnesota is the reason the Frogs' are ahead in the polls, but on closer inspection the Gophers are no Buckeyes. Minnesota is 7-2 and fattened itself on a slew of bad teams - Eastern Illinois, Middle Tennessee, San Jose State, and a Big 10 schedule that remains soft. Minnesota has not defeated a Top 25 team.

But the Gophers have won far more than they have lost, thus providing the difference for TCU's case. Of note - UM plays No. 14 Ohio State, No. 13 Nebraska and No. 25 Wisconsin to close the season. UM's 7-2 could be 7-5.

Had Baylor played anybody from a legit Power 5, the Bears would be ahead of TCU in every poll. Had Baylor played anybody, it would mitigate the Bears' 14-point loss at West Virginia on Oct. 18.

This brings to mind when I asked McCaw back in July during Big 12 media days about their schedule.

"When we scheduled the three non-conference opponents this year we were in the midst of a 15-year bowl drought; the philosophy was, let's get to six wins and bowl eligibility," McCaw said. "Our goal is to win three non-conference games, and set us up to have a great year in the Big 12 and hopefully win a Big 12 championship."

He added: "I want us to play a name opponent, but I want us to play a name opponent in January and not September."

With remaining games against Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Kansas State, there is a good chance Baylor will do just that, jump TCU and reach college football's new final four.

But Baylor's decision to schedule garbage in the non-conference has made this a debate when there should be none, and left the Bears vulnerable when they should be secure.

11/07/2014

Andy Dalton will forever remain one of the all-time great quarterbacks in the history of TCU, the Mountain West Conference and an eternal favorite in Fort Worth. This community will forever remain the safest of harbors for the native of Katy.

A player who continually improved since he arrived to TCU did nothing but surprise everybody because he never stopped evolving. He always continued to improve. It does, however, appear that the red head may finally have hit his ceiling, which for anybody who knows him is sports heart breaking.

Andy Dalton is truly one of the most decent and kind athletes I have ever had the good fortune of meeting, and it is with some sadness to watch him struggle the way he is with the Cincinnati Bengals.

This may just be who Andy Dalton is - a pro who prepares, cares and leads. The end.

One of the most difficult elements in talent evaluation is projecting a player's ceiling - how far can they go? For years, people missed on Dalton. He kept going higher, but at 27 it looks like he finally topped out. He topped out higher than most ever see, but it's left a franchise wondering if this is it.

On Thursday night against the Cleveland Browns, Dalton turned in one of the all-time stink performances for a quarterback. The fourth-year passer threw three picks, and completed 30.3 percent of his passes for 86 yards in a 24-3 home loss against the Cleveland Browns. His passer rating was 2.0.

After signing a six-year, $115 million contract in the offseason, this was supposed to be the Year of The Dalton but it has not worked out that way. Instead, despite the presence of quality weapons from A.J. Green, Jermain Gresham, a competent offensive line, etc., Dalton continues to be erratic.

He has thrown eight touchdown passes this season with nine interceptions. He is capable of throwing for more than 300 yards one game, and becoming a liability the next week.

With Dalton, the Bengals have done more than this awful franchise had done in decades, reaching three consecutive playoff games for the first time in team history. They are 0-3 in the playoffs with Dalton. They have won 10 games in each of the last two years, and could likely do it again this season.

The Bengals are talented and the one element missing is a more consistent play from Dalton. If he could consistently be more of a vertical threat, the Bengals would be regarded as one of the top teams in the NFL.

Instead, they are as close to that as Dalton is to being a top tier QB. It's right there, but after so many years of improving, he may finally have hit his ceiling.

10/30/2014

FORT WORTH, Texas – Fox football analyst Charles Davis was not exactly sold on Trevone Boykin before he came to Fort Worth for his first time calling a TCU game this season. The last time Davis saw Boykin was last season in Norman, Oklahoma in a TCU loss against the Sooners.

Now ...

“On the record? I think he’s a future NFL quarterback. Game is made for his talents,” Davis wrote in a text message to me. “The rest of the season, and all of next, will maximize and expand his game. My mistake? Not giving enough respect to his having to move between positions so often. That’s on me.”

Put me in the skeptical crowd with Boykin as an NFL passer, but completely sold as one of those special guys who on the college level can be immortal. No player in college football has made the strides from last season to this season as Boykin.

If – and this is a rather large if – TCU wins out, wins the Big 12 and reaches the new college football playoff racket, Boykin should be invited to New York City for the Heisman Trophy award presentation. He has the stats. He has the story.

He has passed for 2,306 with 21 touchdowns and three interceptions. He has also run for 374 yards with three touchdowns.

Even his head coach, who right now is actively trying to control the amount of attention his junior QB receives, acknowledges it’s a great story.

* Boykin was offered over a TCU scholarship over Johnny Manziel.

* As a redshirt freshman, Boykin was taking reps as a running back the week starting quarterback Casey Pachall was busted for a DUI. Boykin’s first start at QB was that week, TCU’s first ever home Big 12 game.

* His first college pass attempt was intercepted by Iowa State.

“It’s hard to move back on a Thursday,” TCU head coach Gary Patterson said. “We told him, ‘If they had a middle-third safety, we told him to check it down to the hitch.’ His first throw of the game was right down the middle of the field to the free safety. He didn’t even have to move. He’s come a long way.”

* Last season, Pachall returned, and Boykin moved to wide receiver.

In TCU’s 30-27 loss last season against West Virginia, Boykin caught a team-high 11 passes for 100 yards. He finished the season with 26 catches for 204 yards.

* In the spring, TCU brought in Texas A&M transfer Matt Joeckel, ostensibly to start. They also hired new offensive coordinators Sonny Cumbie and Doug Meacham.

* Boykin beat out Joeckel, and so far this season has turned into a college football QB terror. He has played a lot, knows what he is doing, can run, competes, and now has become an accurate passer.

He has everything, if TCU keeps winning, to earn an invite to NYC for the Heisman trophy show.

"For Trevone Boykin to move into the top three (of the Heisman trophy voting) we are going to have win a lot in the next five," Patterson said. "That means he has some great stats and he will have will be considered. It will be hard because he had such a late start. I have tried to downplay it because the more I downplay it the more people want to talk about it."

If TCU defeats West Virginia this weekend in Morgantown and Kansas State the following weekend in Fort Worth, everybody will be talking about Trevone Boykin.